The missile attack on the Al Ahli Arab Hospital is a tragedy beyond words. A place of healing and wholeness has become a place of devastation and destruction. We mourn, not least, with our Christian brothers and sisters in the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, which administers the hospital.
I am praying for a swift end to this conflict and in particular for an end to the loss of civilian lives.
In the House of Commons today, both the Foreign Secretary and the Shadow Foreign Secretary urged people not to rush to judgment in attributing responsibility for this unjustifiable attack, until the full facts are known. This caution seems wise to me, not least for the sake of good community relations locally.
Where there is such obvious potential for misinformation, inflaming antisemitism on the one hand and Islamophobia on the other, I will be seeking, with colleagues, to build trust and confidence in the vital relationships between faith community leaders.
-The Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Revd Dr Pete Wilcox.